From Nisa

From “Nisa: The Life and Words of a !Kung Woman”

“My father hit me, but I kept crying. I probably would have cried the whole night, but finally, he got up and said ‘I’m taking you and leaving you out in the bush for the hyenas to kill. What kind of child are you?’” (638). 

Word count: 269

As described in the little blurb about Nisa it was remarkable how much she remembered as a child. Considering everything that she went through, verbal, and physical abuse from her father, would make me think that she would inevitably be traumatized and not remember much. It was interesting to me the way she acted as a child, wanting her to nurse from her mother, but she still did not deserve the way that she was treated. The culture was very different and shocking for me to learn about. The relationship with Tashay and his overwhelming amount of jealousy in their relationship much have had a large impact on her mentally. Also, the fact that she was so young when she first started to have sexual relations with her husband was interesting to me because she had just started her first mensuration which she wasn’t even completely understanding of yet. Then ending with the story about how she gave birth and her thought processes throughout the whole thing was crazy. I cannot imagine being so young and having to deal with all these things. Her story was very inspiring because she was a very strong young girl with a hard life, and having to live in a bush with her baby and husband.